The box score from Warwick’s match against Manheim Central last Thursday was deceiving.

Although Jake Kempinski, Eric Esbenshade and Jason Coonan last to their Baron opponents in the 145 through 160-pound bouts, Warrior boss Ned Bushong had no complaints.

“I thought our middle weights really came through for us,” Bushong said. “On paper, they were going to get beat. And even though they didn’t win, they didn’t give up the big bonus points and that came down to be the difference in the match.”

What it did was keep things manageable for the Warriors in the final three bouts.

Trailing 28-19 to its back-yard rivals, Warwick scored the final 15 points and capitalized on David Brubaker’s clinching 3-1 win over Elliot Martin at 220 to earn a 34-28 non-league victory over the Barons in Manheim.

“Overall, I was happy with the way the kids wrestled,” said Bushong, whose team improved to 9-7 overall (3-3 L-L). “They never quit, they kept on going. They’re improving and doing a job and that’s all we can ask.”

The Barons wrapped up their regular-season slate with a 5-14 overall mark (4-3 Section Two) heading into Sectionals next Saturday, Feb. 14.

“It was a good, hard-fought match, it was exciting,” MC coach Troy Sunderland said. “It’s a good rivalry between us and Warwick. We probably could’ve done a couple things differently.”

Things certainly could have worked out differently for the Barons if they had collected additional bonus points in the middle weights. MC’s Connor Pavlik (19-14) started the run with an 11-2 major decision over Kempinski (10-16) at 145, but from the Warriors’ point of view, it could have been worse.

“Pavlik’s been around for a long time, he’s got some experience and Jake held him to a major decision. He wasn’t happy about it, but it was a major,” Bushong said.

Next, Central junior Kyle Zeamer (12-13) took early control against Esbenshade (5-21) at 152, but the Warrior senior rallied and yielded just three points on a 9-4 setback. Then in the 160-pound bout, Baron sophomore Isaiah Mejias (8-17) prevailed for a 4-2 OT win over Jason Coonan (3-20), which put the Central matmen up 22-19.

It marked only the second time this season that Coonan, a relative newcomer, went the distance.

“That night, it was really important for us,” Bushong said. “He three points instead of six.”

Junior Jared Siegrist (28-1) followed with a 29-second fall over Warwick’s Josh Miller at 170, but Eric Garner (9-8) got those points back for the Warriors by decking Keon Hart in 3:55 at 182.

“If Esbenshade gets pinned and Coonan gets pinned, that’s six more points for (Central) and if Garner doesn’t get a pin, I think that has us losing the match,” Bushong remarked. “Garner came through for us &tstr; that was a big win for us. That kept us back in the match.”

In the 195-pound bout, the Warriors regained a lead they never relinquished thanks to Avery Quinn’s (23-11) forfeit win, putting them up 31-28.

But all the marbles rested on the outcome of the 220-pound match, where Brubaker (25-6) faced Martin (14-15). A victory by Elliot would have tied the score 31-all, but given the match to MC on criteria with an 8-6 edge in total wins.

The two were no strangers to one another, with Brubaker having earned a 5-3 conquest in the L-L Tournament’s consolation semi-finals.

“We felt like (Elliot) was definitely in the match and it was a match that was winnable,” Sunderland said. “The way the match went, we felt it could be reversed in the dual meet. Looking at it on film, we worked on some things.”

Martin was close to scoring a single-leg takedown against Brubaker, but couldn’t quite finish it.

“(Elliot) just didn’t move up the leg quick enough to get awarded the takedown,” Sunderland said, “and Brubaker did a nice job fighting out of that.”

Later in the match, Brubaker scored a takedown of his own and that was the difference in a 3-1 win.

“Brubaker’s a pretty good person to have at the end there,” Bushong said. “He’s solid. He’s a solid wrestler. He’s been giving us a good performance all year and he’s another one of those guys that doesn’t know how to quit.”

Senior Austin Maguire (27-3) was a pretty solid person to have leading things off for the Warriors, and his fall in 5:19 over Joseph Giffin (16-14) not only avenged a 12-11 loss in dual-meet action last year, it also gave Warwick an early 6-0 lead.

“That got (Warwick) off to a real good start,” Sunderland said. “Them getting a pin was huge, just starting the momentum of the match and getting the bonus points.”

The two teams then exchanged forfeits at 106 and 113, with MC’s Jared Groff (9-12) and Warwick’s Devin Schnupp (28-1) each having his arm raised in victory.

But the Barons won back-to-back close matches at 120 and 126 &tstr; Zack Zeamer (18-9) defeated Brock Lieberman (17-12) by a 2-0 decision and Ryan McKee (11-19) outlasted Logan Boring (9-9) in OT, 4-2 &tstr; to pull even at 12-all.

“I thought at the worst, we would split those,” Bushong said.

Warwick’s Ben Hershey (19-10) answered with a 9-4 win over Caleb Enck (16-14) at 132 and then Marcus Tout (11-15) stepped up with a 15-6 major decision over MC’s Alex Studenroth in the 138-pound match, giving the Warriors a 19-12 lead.

The Barons would go on to win the next four bouts, but it wasn’t enough.

While Warwick completed the regular season last night (Wednesday) with a dual-meet against Ephrata, the Barons began preparations for the Sectional Tournament,

“The kids have given a lot of heart and worked hard,” Sunderland said, “so in that aspect, we are where we need to be. We can always put those finishing touches of technique and conditioning, but I’ve been pleased with the effort and the fight and desire the kids have given.”

*****

Last Wednesday, Jan. 28, the Warriors dropped their Section One finale to Solanco 46-24 in Lititz.

The two teams split the first four bouts and were tied 9-9, but then the Section One champion Golden Mules (6-0 L-L) won six straight bouts between 132 and 170 to open up a commanding 40-9 advantage.

Schnupp’s fall in 2:56 over Taylor Morrison at 113 and Boring’s 2-0 shutout of Owen Stull at 126 helped Warwick keep it close early.

Later, the Warriors completed their scoring with three straight wins from 182 to 220. Garner defeated Shane DeVoe 4-1, Quinn flattened Nick Smith in 6:00 and Brubaker pinned Josh Boettcher in a time of 2:42.

*****

The Barons were also in action last Wednesday, taking advantage of five forfeits to beat Elizabethtown 48-30 in their Section Two finale.

Pavlik pinned Chad Rosenberger in 6:59 at 145 and Siegrist decked Zach Sedun in 3:25 at 170 to account for bonus points for Manheim Central. Martin added a 4-0 decision at 220, Giffin earned a 3-1 win at 285 and Enck (132), Kyle Zeamer (152), Groff (106), Zack Zeamer (120) and McKee (126) all won by forfeit for the Barons.

Manheim Central forfeited to the Bears at 138, 182, 195 and 113 in the match.